LOVE is a
force of nature and so the course of true LOVE never did run smooth
- A German Report by Philipp Windmuller
The world moves for love and that’s why love connects people all around
the world. It doesn’t matter which colour of the skin or which social or
cultural origin you have. It doesn’t depend on your sexuality. It makes no
difference whether you’re head over heels in love with a man or a woman.
The most important fact is that you’re honest to yourself and that you
always follow your heart. You don’t have to hide your heart because
nothing by you needs to change. Stay the way you are, you really don’t
have to be afraid of what you fear inside. It’s up to you, only you have
to be happy and satisfied with your decision, nobody else!!!
Unfortunately love and understanding are seldom found together. It
sometimes takes a long journey to confess one’s feelings because there
will always be the one who will say something bad to make them feel great.
Don’t worry about it, stay self-confident and don’t bother about that what
other people talk about.
I received all these impressions through the help of the Daily-Soaps “One
Life to Live” and “Forbidden Love”. Both, the storyline of KISH in America
and the one of CHROLLI in Germany are an unbeatable combination,
especially for me because these relationships have helped me to treasure
the small things in life.
There are so many similarities between both stories. They talk about love
without borders but also underline that theses guys are star-crossed
lovers right at the beginning. They have to struggle for their dream of
giving vent to their feelings but it’s a hard and stony way. They convey
the impression that your heart is pounding like mad and it weighs heavily
on your mind when you have to hide your true feelings in public. Both
soaps have never lost the grip to reality. In addition unbelievable great
actors breathe life into the characters on screen.
In America Scott Evans (Oliver Fish) and Brett Claywell (Kyle Lewis)
played incredibly good together. They showed such an intensive chemistry
and brought tears to my eyes. I had goose bumps all over my body.
Nevertheless they were written out what arose a huge outcry from fans all
over the world. By the way, I’m absolutely disappointed about that fact,
especially how it happened but on the other hand I’m really excited about
their work in the future. I’ve never missed an episode of KISH on you-tube
or any interviews of them because through their acting they created an
enormous sympathetic atmosphere. They convey a feeling of thinking that
everybody’s name is written down in one’s heart. When Kyle and Oliver look
in each other’s eyes, it seems like stars collide there. In my opinion,
that’s a huge touch of romance. For me, the most fascinating and
interesting aspect of KISH’s relationship is the deep love. They had to go
through a vulnerably metamorphosis. They are bosom buddies who found their
personal significant other.
It’s awesome to see how their relationship developed. They started as
fraternity brothers and after years they noticed that there’s still a kind
of familiarity between them. But it’s much more than only a friendship of
two dudes, they conceive an affection for each other.
That was a big problem for Oliver because he’s a police officer what is a
status symbol for masculinity and so he hides what is real even when it
hurts. At the beginning he thinks it’s better to pretend to be the one
that you think everybody wants you to be. He’s scared because he thinks
that his colleagues lose respect towards him, although he would be the
same person like yesterday and moreover homosexuality is not a disease.
Oliver fears to lose his job, only because of admitting that he’s gay.
That’s why he wants to stamp his upcoming feelings towards Kyle as a
failed experiment of the past. He really wants to prove that he has
changed but he has to acknowledge that he only tried to throw himself at
different girls because he didn’t want to allow his feelings for Kyle
again. This tangle of feelings brings him a lot of sleepless nights. On
the one hand it’s the society which puts pressure on him. Personally, I
would say that it’s a damning indictment of modern society to stifle young
people in their development. That’s what makes it also difficult for Kyle
to get along with the whole situation because in his eyes both are meant
to last forever. He has to show a considerable amount of patience and
that’s what brings him heartache. He has to get over the fact that Fish is
always pretending he’s not gay, but he fights for his true love and keeps
going on because he believes in their future.
Oliver has to cope with another problem. He wants to tell his totally
conservative parents that he’s gay, but he’s afraid of it because he knows
how his parents, especially his father, would react. But also Oliver’s
mother doesn’t stick by her son. She caught him quite accidentally in a
clear pose with Kyle years ago at college. The worst part about all that
was that she said nothing, she only left. Later on she admitted that she
had a glimmer of hope that it would only be a phase and that it would pass
by. But Oliver doesn’t have much of a choice whether he’s gay or not. He
wants to lay it on the line. He extremely emphasizes that it’s not a
lifestyle for him. It’s his life and he wants to decide what’s good for
him and that’s for sure not telling lies to himself. But the words of his
mother were really hard on Oliver because right at the moment when she
left the room, he felt that she wanted to push the picture of two loving
men to the back of her mind. He knew that she was ashamed of her own son,
her own flesh and blood. For Fish it was like a kick in the teeth. From
this day on it’s like he doesn’t exist any longer for her. They’ve never
talked about all that and that’s why he’s so mixed up with his feelings.
So at college, he quit the relationship to Kyle only because he cared
about what other people might say. He still deeply regrets his behavior
but he can’t wipe the slate clean. For him these are times, when he feels
that he doesn’t know where he fits in and a lot of questions still keep
spinning in his mind. But he can rely on his roommates Layla Williamson
and Christian Vega who were extremely loyal, trustworthy and stable. So
they helped him telling the truth to his parents and finally stop lying
and hiding. Oliver wants to accept his feelings and doesn’t want to
disappoint Kyle any longer. After all that Kyle was balm on Fish’s wounds
because he give their relationship another shot, although he almost did a
big mistake with abandoning his true love for another man. But both turned
the corner and it makes Fish happy to know that at least one part of his
parents, his mother, still loves him, unless she may never understand his
choice.
For me
KISH’s story goes fair in everybody’s heart because it’s so realistic and
detailed but the most noticeable difference to the German daily soap
“Forbidden Love” is , that we are more open-minded in Germany concerning
the aspect of showing a lot of intimate affection and naked scenes on TV.
I think that this is the most overwhelming aspect of the soap because it
clearly shows that homosexuality is no longer such a controversial issue
like years before.
At first, it was a shock to see two men kissing and loving each other but
Jo Weil (Olli Sabel) and Thore Schölermann (Christian Mann) have also an
incredible fan base all over the world now and nobody can imagine how
Forbidden Love should work without CHROLLI. They have a phenomenally
support and it’s absolutely inspiring to see that their love story brings
hope, faith and certainly love in everybody’s life. I think that this
great success is only their merit. With their acting they show lots of
people how important it is to fulfill your dream of being happy. Jo and
Thore improved the shining hour in order to do a lot of volunteer work.
They used the acceptance and warmth of all the people to show a modern new
picture of being gay nowadays. Both benefit from their popularity. They
support AIDS aid of Cologne, especially through their work as honorary
ambassadors for the Run of Colours. It’s a sports-event where everybody
can show his or her solidarity for HIV- or AIDS-infected people. So,
that’s a great opportunity to show that you share this moment together and
work hand in hand for a better enlightenment.
In the soap,
they lay the foundation for everything they do because their love story is
really breath-taking. You can absolutely compare the beginning of their
relationship with KISH’s one in America. Christian is going through a
“Coming out story” like Fish does in One Life to Live. Olli and Christian
also didn’t get off to a good start because Christian embodies the real
man. He’s a boxer and represents the image of the Beach-Boy who is the
typical heartthrob. But although Olli knows that Christian is straight, he
has a huge crush on him.
Olli is distracted with pain because he certainly feels that Christian
isn’t into men and besides it was Christian who had a love triangle with
two women before Olli walked into his life.
So at first, the romantic connection to Christian has always been
one-sided.
In addition you have to know that Olli and Christian are opposed
characters. Christian is really impulsive but sometimes he also comes
across as really sensitive. It’s his dream to become an eminent boxer.
That’s what he’s fighting for. He wants to seize the chance of becoming a
professional athlete. That’s the name of the game. It’s the center of his
life!
On the other hand, Olli is good-natured, helpful and attentive. He always
has the appropriate word for every situation. When you see him for the
first time, you sense that he’s the guy next door. He seems to be so
familiar to you, it’s like you would know him for ages.
For Olli it’s
really hard to get Christian out of his head because they share an
apartment and so it’s not that easy to avoid him. He always tries to be
around him and to surprise him with nice things or kind words. But things
get out of control when Olli can’t hide his feelings any longer. He caught
out Christian and in the heat of passion he kissed him in the locker room
of his boxing training center. Christian was disgusted with that kiss and
from that day on he treated Olin like a damn fool. And Olin clayed all the
blame on himself because he broke off the friendship with his honest
feelings towards Christian. The only thing he didn’t know was that
Christian couldn’t get the kiss out of his mind. He fights his feelings,
like Fish does, but he also recognized that they became stronger and
stronger with each day.
Personally, I think that the sweetest scene of their upcoming love story
was when both guys logged in independently of each other to a gay chat
room.
There they wrote each other using nicknames without knowing who the other
one is. They pointed each other in the right direction and gave useful
advice. Although there was no physical connection between both men at that
time, they developed a feeling of congeniality. Everybody thought that
this would be the starting shot for their relationship, but it wasn’t.
Olli sent Christian a photo of himself and so he thought that Olli put on
a show with him.
So once again their feelings were put on ice but Christian couldn’t walk
or breathe one moment without thinking of Olli. He has to admit that he
can’t play this hide and seek any longer but he fears how his brother
would react because he’s sexually active with women at that time.
After
Christian took a long time to own up his feelings for Olli, they are now
really happy with each other. Their love was able to overcome all these
problems. They ran through so many things together, no one and nothing
will separate them again. For both it took a load off their minds when
Christian announced publicly after his victory at the importing boxing
match that he’s gay. Sometimes their relationship was on a knife-ledge but
they’ve always pulled themselves together and picked up their lost path.
So now in September 2010, after three years of an emotional roller
coaster, the ARD Glamour Soap “Forbidden Love” is going to celebrate the
first gay wedding in German television history. With the wedding ceremony
Olli and Christian will hopefully have their happy ending and can convince
a few more people that love doesn’t have any borders or gender. They bring
sheer joy to everybody’s heart and tears of happiness to everybody’s eyes
because they amaze all of their fans again and again with their tender
love. So their relationship is an inspiring example for looking forward to
the future.
At last I want to
mention that we mustn't forget that Homophobia is still a precarious
issue. So everybody has to do the best for living in a safer world. We
have to maintain the values of democracy. We have to protect ourselves but
that doesn't mean that we have to hide our feelings or that we bother
about what other people think about us. Please underline your personality
and don't rack your brains too much about falling in love with a man or a
woman. It’s normal to feel rattled but please keep your head held high.
That’s the keynote of both gay storylines on One Life to Live and
Forbidden Love.
They tell us that things always seem to happen when you least expect them
and that we have to get back up, push straight on and stop the tears after
being burnt. Don't adopt the role of the victim. Your motto has to be that
it’s alright to be yourself and that it’s okay to be just who you are. You
don't have to be afraid of an outing or of social exclusion. Please keep
always in your mind that courage doesn't mean to fear, it means that you
have to overcome your own fears. And you can always rely on the love of a
real friendship. It helps you to see that love is like a lighthouse, love
even lights up in the heaviest storms.
You will
see, every Jack will find his Jill, every Jill will find her Jack, every
Jack will find his Jack and last but not least every Jill will find her
Jill.
I really
hope that my lines are understood as an appeal to more tolerance and
respect towards people who are self-displeased only because of the fact
that they are treated like social outcasts. Why does society marginalize
gay people? They’re also human beings like you and me. They have the right
to decide on their own what’s best for them. Really everybody deserves
that fundamental right. Personally for me, it makes no difference whether
someone is gay or straight. Sexuality doesn't hold a mirror up to
somebody’s personality!!! I want to celebrate boundless joy but that’s
only possible when we stand up for our neighbors and work hand in hand in
the future.
With this in
mind, love somebody with all your heart when you love to love that person.
I think the
lyrics of “Forbidden Love” speak for itself,
“Forbidden
love goes straight to your heart
And I can’t
stand the pain when I call out your name
Forbidden
love goes straight to your heart
And your
soul, losing control”!
